The assessment of child custody is one of the most complex, challenging, and professionally risky areas of forensic evaluation. The vast majority of other types of forensic referrals address relatively specific, well formulated psycho-legal issues. Often, assessments involve evaluating only one person (e.g., a personal injury litigant, a victim of rape), but custody assessments require assessing multiple parties, each individually and in various combinations (e.g., each child, each parent, child and stepparents, child and stepsiblings). The standard “best interests of the child” is somewhat more complex and vague than other psycho-legal criteria, requiring a multi-focused approach to the overall assessment process e.g., mental heath of each parent, needs of the child, attitudes, interests of the parents). Because the stakes are high in a custody case, at least one parent is apt to be angry or resentful of the work of forensic psychologist.
Divorce rate in US is 50%, one out of every two. The condition is little bit better in UK, one out of every three get divorced. Although in our country state is not that pathetic but divorces are common. So, another legal aspect that requires the services of forensic psychology are the cases of child custody problem. To understand this issue lets take a typical example of child custody where now a days the services of a forensic psychologist are frequently seek in western countries.
Example
A couple with a 10 year old daughter goes through divorce. Father alleges that mother is unfit to look after child due to her mental illness. On the other hand, mother claims she is fine but father is abusive, aggressive and torture her and daughter. Court asks psychologist for an assessment of the parents and the child. Psychologist will come and interview.
In the civil setting, parents seeking custody may attempt to look more virtuous than they actually are, and plaintiffs in a personal injury suit may distort responses to appear more damaged than is the case. In criminal cases, defendants may choose to present a picture of being more emotionally disturbed than is justified to avoid trial, criminal culpability, or a sentence of death. Now how does a psychologist determine that who is telling truth. How can the psychologist help in this regard? Several techniques are available to find the truth.
